>> the algerian military surrounds a large gas facility where armed men are holding more than 40 hostages. you are watching al jazeera live from doha. the french have 1400 soldiers on the ground in mali. boeing dreamliner grounded because of safety concerns. and we are test driving the new technology meant to cut down on mistakes at the wheel.

algerian soldiers have surrounded a gas facility near the border with libya. two people and killed. gunmen are holding about 40 people inside. we have spoken with some of the hostages. it's not clear if there were speaking underdress. duress. the but the photographer decided not to show their faces. >> this is the gas field where the workers are being held hostage. it's run by british, norwegian, and algerian companies. the nationals are being held from algeria, ireland, japan, france, and the united states,

and britain. >> many of the people i've worked in the area many years. i asked for your understanding for not being able to give you more detailed information. >> it's not clear how many algerian workers are being held. least 30 people have managed to escape. a catering company said that it has 150 employees alone still confined at the plant. the gas field is in remote parts of the country's eastern desert, serviced by its own air fields, accommodations, and hospital. several hundred people are believed to work on the base at any one time. it's just 100 kilometers west of the libyan border. one armed group says it carried out the attack as payback for algeria allowing france to use its air bases in the assault against al qaeda dazzling spiders in neighboring mali. >> according to the information we have, there are about 20 terrorists inside.

we believe they take orders from him and i don't believe they came from mali or libya. this is a revenge attack aimed at foreign countries participating in the attacks in mali. >> that is an excuse. usually, operations like this takes longer to plan. this is a cold-blooded murder of people going about their business. so there's no excuse, whether it be connected to libya, mali, or anywhere else. >> in october, u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton was in algeria urging the government to crack down on fighters who had taken control of large parts of of mali.

attacks on oil and gas facilities are commonplace in other countries like nigeria where fighters are angry over foreign companies influence over production and want a bigger share the wealth. no similar reason has been given in this hostage crisis yet. >> as you heard, the algerian anterior ministry say, former commander for al qaeda in a migrant is responsible for this. he decided to form his own group. he is called the one-eyed. and he's been called un catchable, by the french. an expert says groups use al

qaeda to strengthen their international profiles. >> al qaeda in the maghreb is a new phenomenon, especially in algeria. it stems back to the early 1990's when the islamic salvation islamicwon the majority of seats in the first round of the 1991 legislative election. the second round was cancelled with the expectation they would have won a majority. a splinter group needed outside support. that's when it announced affiliation with al qaeda. it was a sign of their weakness that they needed to reach out to this global network. i think of them as actors that are thinking locally but acting globally. the extent to which they have resources may not reflect their actual support. i would not say this represents

mass support on the part of ordinary algerian people. it is much more complex. they developed networks within southern algeria and some networks the torreg. >> the french have doubled the number of troops on the ground in mali. the defense minister of the country says there are 1400 soldiers trying to retake rebel- controlled towns. diabaly is 400 meters from the capital. french air strikes near diabaly have done little. chad has promised to send thousands of soldiers and hundreds of nigerian troops are expected to arrive.

muhammed is in the capital with a report. what is the latest? >> elizabeth, we have been speaking with residents of diabaly. they say the rebels are still in control of the town. trenches have been dug on the outskirts and in the middle of the town, from where they are defending the town from malian troops supported by french ground forces. the residents have told us the rebels are impounding civilian cars, which they're using in the fight against the french and the rebels have been stopping people from fleeing the town, although some have escaped and have been talking about huge casualties. one woman said there have been huge casualties on the side of the malian forces and she saw

fledmalian soldiers ias she the city. it is just 400 kilometers north of the capital bamako. it is the first place the french soldiers have begun their ground assault against the rebels. >> french soldiers struggling to aly.ke control of diabelli's do we know when more african troops are scheduled to arrive to fight alongside the french? >> nigerians are expected here today. 490 of them out of the 600 that nigeria has agreed to contribute to the mission for the military support of mali. there are also 507 soldiers from

niger. they just received the consent of their parliament. they are expected to cross the border at any time and come into mali to join the mission. countries such as burkina faso, chad, and ghana participating as well. 2000 troops from chad. thousands of african troops are expected to support the french and malian forces. they are appealing for help particularly from european countries for logistical as well as financial help to support the mission in support of the mali government. >> thank you.

al-shabab says it has killed a suspected french spy at the center of a failed rescue mission earlier this week. denis allex was captured in 2009. the somali rebel group said it killed him on its twitter feeds. the french agent was once thought to have been killed on saturday. two french soldiers died in the rescue attempt. qatar airways is the latest airline to ground depletes of five boeing 787 dreamliner planes. all but four of the dreamliner jets in the world have stopped flying after a series of mechanical and electrical failures. dreamliner made its debut and in 2011. ana getting the first periodit has grounded all of its dreamliner jets. japan has 14 of them in a hangar. united airlines operates six of

the jets. also grounded, air india's 6. chilean and a polish airliner are grounding theirs as well. ethiopia has four. it has yet to confirm whether it will keep flying the 787. >> the bad news keeps coming for boeing and its newest commercial airliner. u.s. federal aviation administration is grounded all commercial 787 dreamliners until safety issues with the lithium batteries have been confirmed, amid reports they can catch fire. they're all operated by united airlines in the united states. there was an emergency landing in western japan. every passenger and crew member

on board managed to leave the dreamliner safely on friday. all nippon airways is blaming a battery error. smoke was reported by some of those on board. it is grounded its fleet of dreamliner jets for a second time. we are extremely sorry for causing a brief to the passengers and those involved. when we know the cause, we will restart operations of the plane. >> japan airlines has grounded its 787's, which means all 24 registered in japan are out of service for the time being. the in-flight japanese incident follows an earlier incident that occurred on the ground in boston in the united states in early january, which resulted in heat damage and smoke. if not corrected, it could result in damage to critical

systems and the result of fire in the compartment. boeing says it is confident the 787 is safe and stands by its integrity and will take steps in the coming days to ensure customers and the traveling public are safe and to return the airplanes to safety. despite the problems, qantas airways of australia confirmed an order of 15 new dreamliners. new zealand has also said it is committed to the 787. boeing has orders for 800 of the state of the art objects in the pipeline. the u.s. civil aviation administration is working with boeing and the carrier and united airlines to make sure it gets back in the skies as quickly as possible. it is alerting other authorities around the world of its decision. chile and the european union have fallen into line and

withdrawn the 787 from service. the leader of, the protest in islamabad gets a meeting with the government. is he being taken seriously? and a light show. the science behind this 7 recite. -- this heavenly sight. >> hello. good to have you. in the southern regions of france, towards the pyrenees, clout pushing through. we saw an incredible amount of snow. avalanche warnings in the area are the highest they've seen in this season already, closing many of the road. people have problems getting to work as well as transportation being stopped.

wednesday evening and thursday morning, the avalanche warnings have been lifted. the rest of the week, snow will become more of a rainfall problem, coming in off the atlantic's. across the u.k., heavy rain will be a problem all the way down across areas just to the west of london and towards parts of france. towards the east, it will be snowing for many parts of the balkans, which means it will be rainfall with a temperature 15 degrees. the northern part of africa, cloudy in algeria and tunisia. we will see some rain showers as well. everyday in algiers at 18 degrees. tunis, mostly cloudy,

>> good to have you. the top stories on al jazeera. algerian soldiers have surrounded a gas facility near the libyan border. two people have been killed and gunman are holding 40 people inside. some people are reported to have escaped the facility. french forces have launched a

ground offensive against rebel fighters in mali. a spokesman for the rebel group says the two sides are fighting at close range. doris truong nigeria and chad are expected to arrive over the next few hours. -- soldiers from nigeria and chad. chile is no longer flying that the boeing 787 dreamliner after recent problems. boeing maintains it is safe to fly. thousands of protesters in front of pakistan's government, the cleric is holding talks with the government. as of the ruling coalition are negotiating with him after he threatened further action. he wants the government to resign. there's no sign the prime minister will heed his call. the anti-corruption chief of pakistan has been depending the prime minister at the supreme court. he says and ordered to arrest the prime minister is flawed.

kamal, i don't know if you have been watching the footage of the pakistani foreign minister is saying that khadri is nobody. so why is the government engaging in talks with him? >> as you said, who is he? many people in pakistan say if he were so insignificant, how is it that he has brought the government to its knees? some parts of the city are paralyzed. people wanting to march on parliament. he was speaking from inside his bulletproof container, sipping hot coffee while is the ots, women and children, were sitting out in the pounding rain.

that's when he gave the ultimatum, saying that he wanted the president -- he said i'm giving him one and a half hours. they said that if this man fails, we would really lose this time. the country cannot afford violence. the government has failed to control it. india and the government going to him. they all went into that container and talks are under way. everybody is hoping there will be some give and take. both sides have to be flexible. both sides have to realize there's a lot at stake and they must end the talks conclusively. in one of the things this leader

has been calling for is for the government to resign. the supreme court has ordered the rest of the prime minister ashraf, and he is not appeared in court yet? >> he was at the prime minister's auhouse. the opposition, which also met yesterday in lahore, everybody will now be demanding the dismissal of the government or dissolve parliament, to bring in a caretaker government to make sure the elections are free and fair and that there's some sort of electoral reform to ensure that those in parliament will not return. return. if a canadian cleric can come to islamabad and accomplish

this, who's to say others could not bring their supporters as well? >> the indonesian capital is at a standstill because of flooding in much of central jakarta. it has been deluged by the heaviest rain in five years. thousands of people affected. our correspondent has more. >> the city of more than 10 million people has turned into a lake. this is the financial heart of jakarta, the place where millions go to work every day. the flooding has reached a new level. in more than 15 years, never had the city center flooded like this. jakarta has come to a standstill. some people are still trying to get through the flooding to go to work or try to help other people. even rescue workers are facing serious troubles to reach those in need. more than 10,000 people have already been evacuated.

completely stopped, people in jakarta are getting more frustrated with the yearly flooding. the government had promised more than five years ago to solve the problem by building new canals and waterways. so far, the flooding has gotten worse. >> five men charged with gang raping and in the medical student will face strong in a special fast-track court. . is expected to start on monday. there are accused of abducting, gang raping, and sexually assaulting the woman with a metal bar on a moving bus last week. she died of for injuries two weeks after the december 16 attack. it's been another day of violence in iraq. a string of bomb blasts that killed 22 people. this was the scene in the holy city where a car bomb struck a bus carrying she'll pilgrims. four of them were killed. there were other blast in other towns. there has been progress in talks between kurdish military

officials and the iraqi central government. two sides are trying to diffuse an armed confrontation on disputed territory, but they've not finalized a deal on how to deploy a joint armed forces into the area claimed by the turkish government as well as iraq. now this report. >> this strip of land could be the battleground for iraq's next armed conflict. kurdish forces are entrenched in their positions. the guns are loaded and ready. the enemy's movements under closer watch. everyone here is on alert and their orders are clear. no iraqi army troops are allowed beyond this area. it's part of the disputed territory between the central government and the kurdish region of northern iraq. the major's it says his forces are here to protect the territory of the kurds.

>> our forces are defending the kurdish territories. we are the safety valve for all ethnicities. >> defending the territories also means the use of force. the crisis is more than two months old. military leaders and politicians from the two sides are talking to each other to diffuse this. what is dangerous is that the two sides are fully armed. any mistake could lead to a violent conflict. the iraqi prime minister al- maliki, also the commander in chief, gave his orders to form the operations command, to take care of security in three provinces. he says he has the right to move his soldiers anywhere within iraq. but his opponents say he is violating the constitution. the leader of the kurdish delegation been coaching with him says a deal is imminent to

form a joint forces in both areas until the issue of disputed territories is resolved according to the constitution. but he warns that the political disagreements could be dangerous. >> the situation in iraq is very dangerous. there's a struggle between all political blocs. everyone is rallying and wants to use force against each other. . we managed to keep the armed forces neutral, then we will solve our problems. if not, there will be a catastrophe. >> until the politicians sort out their differences, these soldiers will not abandon their weapons. on ordered to shoot could lead iraq into a new bloody war. al jazeera reporting from uecker krupa. kuk.from kir >> the u.s. president is asking for restrictions on guns.

but there's no talk of buying back 300 million guns already owned by americans. let's look at the different sides of the argument. we have representatives of the second amendment foundation which supports america's right to bear arms. >> a lot of people like to have guns for different purposes. and gun for self-defense, a rifle for target shooting, a shotgun for skeet shooting. we fought against britain and we cannot protect ourselves when they try to take our firearms. the u.s. has a long tradition of individual rights of citizens that many other countries don't have. >> for decades, the special interest gun lobby and the gun manufacturers in the u.s. are not regulated. every product in america is regulated, including toy guns. but the real guns that resulted

87 ducks per day, 3000 every month, the equivalent of a 9/11 attack every month in america from gun violence, and there's no regulation on guns and there's no background checks for all gun sales. the congress is completely owned. >> driving tests in south korea are becoming more high-tech. the road traffic authority says computer tablets are helping them to drive more safely. >> it can be nerve wracking experience, sitting for driving test. more so when you have to memorize the routes. that's a thing of the past. the road traffic authority has equipped the cars with computer tablets in korea. they're loaded with a gps program that tells drivers exactly where to go. 7 cent en'